“You might as well put that little ass gun down, Miss Kitty. You know you ain’t gonna shoot.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You’re gonna die.” I knew that he could see my hands shaking. I was so mad that it felt like my whole body was shaking. I gripped the gun tighter.
“No, I’m not. Look at you, can’t even hold the gun you’re shakin’ so fuckin’ bad.”
“Why’d you kill her?” I yelled.
“I didn’t kill that ho.”
“Yes, you did! She died this morning in the hospital from the beating you give her.”
“She was alive when she left me. I can’t be responsible for what happens to a ho when I’m finished with her. That bitch probably went out and found her another john and he killed her ass.”
“No, it was you. If you didn’t kill her, what are you trying to get rid of? Why is all your stuff in the car?”
“You can’t prove that, dead ho’s tell no tales.”
All of a sudden, Bullet kicked the garbage can in my direction and I jumped back. When I moved, he dove behind a desk. When he came up he had a gun pointed at me.
“Now, I know you ain’t gonna shoot me, but I will kill you just like I killed your ho. Now put the gun down.”
“Fuck you!”
Bullet took another step closer. The door flew open.
“Freeze!”
Both Bullet and I looked toward the door; and to my surprise, it was Chante. What the fuck is she doin’ here? Whatever the reason, I was glad she was here with that big ass gun.
Chante
“Freeze!” I yelled as I came through the door with my gun drawn. Jada and Bullet had their guns pointed at the other.
“Who is this? Another one of your ho’s come to have a little threesome?” he laughed.
“No, she’s here so both of us can kill you,” Jada said.
“I’m not here to help you kill him, Jada. I’m here to stop you,” I said without taking my eyes off him. I knew neither one of them was going to shoot the other or it would be over. They were both looking for a way out. All I had to do is stall.
“Stop me? What are you talkin’ about? He killed Bella.”
“I know that. The police are on their way. Let them handle this.”
“NO!” Jada shouted at me. “He killed Bella and he’s gonna die for it!”
“No, Jada,” I said slowly and quietly. The tears were flowing from her eyes.
“He’s gonna die!” Jada screamed and took a step closer to him. Whether he meant to kill her or not, Bella didn’t deserve the beating she got from him. I had to defuse this situation fast or she just might do it. I couldn’t blame her, ’cause in reality, I wanted him dead too.
“Jada, please put the gun down.”
“NO!”
“He isn’t worth it.”
“I’m gonna kill him,” Jada said almost in a whisper.
“Please, Jada, don’t do this. Don’t throw your life away on this worthless piece of shit. The police will be here any minute. Just put the down, Jada. I got him; he’s not going anywhere.”
Jada slowly began to lower her gun. “Thank you, Jada,” I said and glanced at her. When I did, Bullet fired at me. I felt the shell rip through my left shoulder. The impact knocked me off balance. He tried to run.
I was about to return fire when Jada screamed, “NO!”
I saw Jada raise her gun, close her eyes, and empty her clip. The recoil put her on her ass. While she was down, Bullet turned and fired at Jada, but he missed her. I took careful aim and fired. I hit him with two shots to the chest.
He went down and I moved in on him. I held my gun on Bullet and kicked the gun out of his hand.
I looked down at Jada. “You okay?”
“I’m okay-I’m all right.”
Just then the door burst open. “Freeze!” one uniform yelled.
“Put your weapon down!” the other yelled.
I immediately put the gun down, raised my hands, knowing how trigger-happy some of my brothers in blue could be, and yelled, “I’m a cop!”
“What?” I heard Jada say.
I could see the look of hurt and disappointment in her eyes. “Yes, Jada, I’m a cop.”
15
Jada West
Ain’t this a bitch? Chante’s a cop. I can hardly believe it, but here I am sitting in the backseat of a police car, somewhere I thought I’d never be, because I was just too smart, too careful. I knew that I wasn’t under arrest because nobody had read me my rights and I wasn’t wearing handcuffs. Bullet was dead though. Chante killed him. The bastard got what he deserved for what he did to Bella. Now she could rest in peace.
I heard Chante tell the other cops that I didn’t hit a thing, so I wasn’t all that worried. But the fact that Chante was a cop and she was all up in my world couldn’t be a good thing. A million things were going through my mind as we drove to the precinct. Along the way, I tried to think of everything I’d said to her. I tried to remember who she’d seen us with. I had a lot of high-profile clients and now their reputations, and maybe their careers, were on my back.
I should have known better; should have seen this coming.
Chante’s a cop. Ain’t that a bitch?
We arrived at the precinct and I was taken to the same room that I had been taken to the last time I was questioned about a murder. I had been in there for about an hour and a half before anybody came in the room.
It was the same cop that questioned me the last time, and one I had never seen before. “Ms. West, my name is Detective Sergeant Banner; I’m with the homicide division, and I believe you already met Vice Lieutenant Gineconna.”
Now I was scared. If this asshole was vice, then they’d been on me for a long time. It was all starting to make sense to me now. And the more it made sense to be me, the more scared I got. I was the target and Gineconna questioning me about that murder at Sensations was just the beginning of it. I should have stayed out of that club after that night; never gone back. But then I thought about it. If I was the target, club or no club, they would have come at me anyway.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting so long,” Banner said. “I only need to take your statement and then you’re free to go.”
I started to say something dumb like, “You mean you’re not going to arrest me for running a prostitution ring?” but I simply said, “I understand.”
Banner placed a tape recorder on the table and asked me to tell them what happened. While I told my story, Gineconna stood behind Banner and never took his eyes off me. Once I was done, Banner turned off the tape recorder, thanked me for my time, and got up to leave. Naturally, I stood up too. I followed the two cops to the door, but when I got to the door, Gineconna turned and blocked my path.
“I hope you learned something from all this Ms. West,” Gineconna said to me. Then he stepped aside and let me pass.
As I walked out of the precinct, I thought about his question. Had I learned anything? And if so, what was it? I was glad he didn’t want an answer, because I didn’t have one. Maybe in a day or two I would, but not now. Right now I was too shaken to think. Bella was dead; murdered by Bullet. Chante was a cop assigned to get close to me. There was definitely a lesson to be learned from all this, but all I wanted to do was go home.
When I came outside the building, the first thing I saw was Chante. She was leaning against my car. “How’d my car get here?” I asked her.
“I had it towed here instead of the impound.”
“Thanks,” I said and walked past her.
“Jada, wait,” she said and grabbed my arm.
I jerked my arm away. “What do you want, Chante? Is that even your name?”
“It’s Rachael, Rachael Dawkins. Chante is my middle name.”
“And you’re a cop.”
“Yes, Jada, I’m a cop.”
“How could you, Chante? I mean, Rachael or whatever your name is. I trusted you.”
“I was just doing my job, Jada.”
“Yeah well, if your job is to betray people who considered you a friend, then your job sucks.”